


The boy next door

by loonyloopylou



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M, Neighbours AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 07:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13477029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonyloopylou/pseuds/loonyloopylou
Summary: Five times Aaron and Robert's meetings didn't quite go as planned, and once when it went exactly as they'd hoped.





	The boy next door

1.

Aaron was struggling with the door to the stairwell after having to climb six flights of stairs with his whole weekly shop. The lift was broken. Again. With the amount that he was paying to live in this place, the least the bloody landlord could do was make sure the lift was working.

As the door to the stairwell closed behind him and he entered the normally quiet hallway, the shouting from flat 17 became audible. He frowned, trying to remember who the new occupant was.

“I can’t believe you slept with someone else!” came the very female shriek, followed by a thump as something hit the floor.

The male sounding voice mumbled something, clearly the calmer of the two as his words were muffled by the wooden door.

“That doesn’t matter! We aren’t even divorced yet, do you not have any self-respect?” the shriek came again. This woman really did have a grating voice. 

His arms began crying out in protest at having to carry the 5 bags of shopping any longer than necessary, and Aaron decided that eavesdropping on some dysfunctional ex-couple arguing about something that was definitely not his business wasn’t the best option for his evening. 

Shaking his head, he made his way down the hallway to his own flat, struggling with his keys before closing the door and forgetting all about the argument that he had overheard.

 

 

 

2.

Over two weeks had passed since the first time he’d hovered outside of flat 17, and Aaron had almost completely forgotten about that first time. Thankfully the lift had been repaired – finally – and so he hadn’t had to struggle up the stairs with his shopping again.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be using the lift on this occasion as he had just been woken from his sleep at 1 o’clock in the morning because of the fire alarm screaming through the night.

After pulling a top on over his head, shrugging on a hoodie and shoving his feet into his beaten-up trainers he went to the door and pulled it open. What he expected was to see other sleep-interrupted tenants stumbling down the corridor, no sign of a fire in sight. 

What he actually saw as he shut his door was smoke and a faint orange glow from the doorway of flat 17. Hesitating at the stairwell, he felt the radiating heat through his clothes and saw a nice looking sofa being licked by the flames.

He was brought to his senses by another flat door opening and began his rather rapid descent down the stairs. As he reached the entrance hall, 3 fire fighters in full gear went running past him. 

Pushing the door open into the mild July night he saw that a fire engine and 2 police cars had already arrived in the car park. Into one of the police cars a woman was being pushed into the back seat, clearly hand cuffed, attempting to scream and shout at a blond guy who was being spoken to by more police officers.

Aaron had seen this man before – normally getting in and out of a flash looking car in an equally flash looking suit – but hadn’t known that he was who lived in the flat down the corridor from him. Aaron stayed where he was but watched as the blond guy continued to talk with the police officers. He was still watching as they shook hands and left in the second police car. The man sat heavily down on the curb and put his head in his hands. In a move that Aaron would put down to being exhausted, he began to make his way over to this blond man.

“Are you alright, mate?” Aaron asked, startling the man into looking up. Even in the dark, he could see that the man’s green eyes were red rimmed – from crying or smoke, Aaron couldn’t tell. The man cleared his throat and breathed in deeply.

“Uh yeah,” he stopped and swallowed. “Sorry about the late night wake up.” He smiled without humour. For some unknown reason, Aaron felt the need to comfort him.

“Aaron.” He blurted out.

“Sorry?” The blond man squinted up at him.

“My name’s Aaron.” He clarified, “I think I live on the same floor as you? In flat 19?” He added, kicking himself for sounding so hesitant. Something else he could blame on exhaustion later.

“Yeah, I’ve seen you around.” The man stuck his hand out. “I’m Robert.” He smiled, brightening up slightly. Aaron reached out and shook the man’s – Robert’s – hand. 

“D’you mind if I…?” Aaron asked, waving his hand towards the pavement to the side of where Robert was sat.

“Sure.” Robert nodded, looking surprised.

Aaron sat down hesitantly, careful to leave enough space between the two of them and stretched his legs out in front of him.

“So,” he started, “late night cooking accident?” He tried, his curiosity getting the better of him. Robert barked out a laugh.

“No… definitely not.” He snorted a laugh again. “My crazy ex-wife. She’s angry that I’m moving on with my life and decided that setting fire to my flat was the best way to go about getting me back.”

“Oh my god.” Aaron said, involuntarily. Robert turned to face Aaron, a smirk on his face. 

“Yeah, and all she’s managed to achieve is a restraining order and a possible stay at Her Majesty’s Pleasure.” He chuckled. “At least she’ll leave me alone now.”

“How long were you married?” 

“About six months?” he sighed. “I didn’t really love her. She was loaded and my boss’s daughter so…”

“Ah, so you married for money?” Aaron scoffed.

“No!” he groaned and rubbed at his eyes. “I mean, yeah I guess. I did like her, I just liked her money so much more than I disliked the many – and I mean many – problems that she had.”

“Did she catch you at it with another bird then?” Aaron couldn’t help but ask, remembering the argument that he’d overheard. Robert’s cheeks flushed slightly as he looked down at his feet.

“With a bloke, actually.” He looked up at Aaron, whose heart had leapt unintentionally at the idea that this gorgeous blond liked blokes. “I had just–” 

Robert’s next words were cut off by the fire fighters announcing that everyone could go back in, and that the only flat damaged was the one where the fire started. 

“I guess you can go back into the warmth then.” Robert smiled. “Sorry, again.” He added, heaving himself to his feet.

“It seems like it’s your mad ex who should be sorry, not you.” Aaron responded, raising his eyebrows with a wry smile. Robert laughed, holding out his hand offering Aaron some help up. Aaron looked at Robert’s hand for a second too long, that it seemed that he would withdraw the offer, but Aaron took it and felt Robert’s warm hand squeeze his own before pulling him up. Aaron stumbled and ended up far closer to Robert than he expected.

“She really is very mad.” Robert laughed, dragging Aaron’s gaze from his lips to his eyes. Aaron cleared his throat and stepped back.

“Where are you going to be staying now?” He asked, not entirely knowing where this was going. It wasn’t like he could offer some almost random stranger a place to stay for who knows how long, no matter how attractive he was.

“I’ll probably give my sister a call. She doesn’t live too far from here, so I’ll just drive over there for tonight at least.” Robert answered, putting his hands into his pockets and rocking back on his heels. “I’ll probably have to go to the police station at some point tomorrow…”

Aaron nodded, having forgotten for a moment quite how serious the events of the night were. Robert’s ex had set fire to his flat. She could have killed someone.

“Good luck with that then, mate.” Aaron smiled, noticing that the car park had almost emptied as the last few people made their way through the door and back into the apartment building. “I’ll see you around then.” 

“Yeah,” Robert sighed. “See you around.”

Aaron smiled one last time before turning and making his way back towards the apartment building, turning back to look at Robert. The blond was scrolling through his phone with one hand in his pocket, tapping his foot against the tarmac. Aaron found himself smiling again, hoping irrationally that Robert’s flat would be repaired as soon as possible.

 

 

 

3.

“Come on Aaron! We’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up!”

Adam’s shout came drifting through from the living room into the bedroom, where Aaron was currently hurrying to get ready for a meeting that he swears he hadn’t even been told about. Or maybe he’d just forgotten. His thoughts had recently been consumed by only one person.

He was just pushing his curls down with some gel when Adam started hammering on the door, startling him.

“Come on, mate, no one cares how pretty your hair looks.” He teased through the door.

Rolling his eyes, Aaron pulled open the door quickly causing Adam to stumble forward into the room. Aaron smirked walking past his friend, who had managed to catch himself on the doorframe before completely losing his balance, to find his shoes near the front door. Grabbing his keys and shrugging on a coat, Aaron took a look at his watch.

“Hurry up then, mate. We’re going to be late.” He said mockingly, pulling open the front door and walking into the hallway, Adam following quickly behind taking a swipe at the back of Aaron’s head as payback for teasing him.

Aaron turned back around to hit at him and soon they were both laughing loud enough to probably disturb all his neighbours. Aaron was so distracted by the playful fighting that he walked right into the person who had been consuming so many of his thoughts – both asleep and awake.

“Robert!” Aaron dumbly exclaimed. 

“Aaron.” Robert mocked, smiling down at him, his eyes crinkling and green eyes shining. Aaron definitely hadn’t forgotten how gorgeous he was, in fact he seemed to have become more attractive in the couple of weeks since they’d last spoken. Adam cleared his throat awkwardly, unbelievably managing to demonstrate some tact, pulling Aaron’s focus away from Robert’s face and down to the floor, taking a step backwards as he did so. Again, he hadn’t realised quite how close he and Robert were stood until that moment.

“Umm,” he started, “Adam this is Robert. Remember I told you his flat was burnt down…?”

“Oh, so you talk about me with your mates?” Robert teased, his smile turning playful. Aaron blushed, but decided that playing along was easier than admitting that he kept having to stop himself from mentioning his blond neighbour.

“A middle of the night fire alarm isn’t something that happens on the regular, you know? I had to explain why I was so tired in work the next day.” Because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Robert’s smile turned coy.

“At least we managed to finally–” 

“Rob!” A female voice interrupted what Robert was going to say. A different one from the shrieking voice of his ex, Aaron noted. “You can’t just abandon me and leave me to do all the hard work for you!” 

A brunette appeared in the doorway, her hair tied up into a messy ponytail and a smudge of what looked like ash on her cheek. Her face was flushed, probably from the exertion of carrying two heavy looking bin bags. She dropped the bags with a thud and fixed Robert with a glare. Robert only chuckled.

“I didn’t ‘abandon you’, Vic.” He rolled his eyes. “I just heard a neighbour in the hallway and thought I’d say hello.” He continued, waving a hand in Aaron’s direction. Before he could say any more, the girl – Vic apparently – smiled cheekily.

“Oh, do I finally get to meet Aaron?” She asked, excitedly, smiling up at a blushing Robert.

“Oh!” Aaron exclaimed. “So you talk about me with your mates?” He repeated from earlier, teasing, his heart soaring from the idea that Robert had also been talking about him. 

“Shut up.” Robert muttered petulantly. “And anyway, she’s my sister so she doesn’t count.”

“Excuse me! I don’t count, do I?” She huffed, turning away from her brother towards Aaron and Adam. “As he said,” she continued, shoving at Robert’s arm, “I’m Robert’s sister, Victoria.”

“Aaron.” He offered, unnecessarily. “And this is…” Aaron trailed off, giving Adam the chance to introduce himself. Adam didn’t say anything, so Aaron turned towards him, only to notice that he had apparently spaced out and was staring – quite creepily – at Victoria. Oh no.

“Adam!” Aaron called, kicking him as subtly as he could. This drew Adam out of his weird trance, as he suddenly turned to Aaron.

“What?”

Aaron tilted his head in Victoria’s direction, a silent command to introduce himself.

“Oh right! I’m Adam, Aaron’s mate.” He eventually said, sticking his hand out to shake. Aaron cringed, thinking that this introduction could not have gone any worse.

Surprisingly, Victoria took the hand and shook it, smiling. They both held their hands for a fraction too long, long enough in fact that Aaron and Robert’s eyes met and they both shared a look of amused exasperation. Aaron eventually decided to end their moment and cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry but me and Adam need to be off now, we’re late for a meeting.” He said, disappointedly. He couldn’t believe that the one opportunity he’d had to speak to Robert in weeks was coming to an end because of stupid work. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Robert smiled, reassuring him. “We should be getting back to trying to make this place habitable again.” 

“Good luck with that.” Aaron said, noticing the still blackened appearance of the walls. He turned to Victoria with a smile. “It was good to meet you, Victoria.”

“Call me Vic.” She smiled. “And it was great to get to meet you both too!” She said, aiming a more lingering glance at Adam who was already looking at her with the same love-struck expression as earlier. 

“Maybe I’ll see you later, Robert, if you’re still here tidying up when I get home from this meeting?” Aaron asked hopefully, to which Robert nodded.

“Yeah, I should still be here!” he grinned, waving Aaron off as he made his way back into the flat leaving Aaron and Adam to rush off to their meeting attempting to come up with a convincing lie as to why they were so late. 

 

By the time Aaron had returned from work Robert had gone. 

But under his door he found a piece of paper with both Robert and Victoria’s mobile numbers written in two different sets of neat handwriting. 

 

 

 

4\. 

It had been almost a month, and Aaron still hadn’t texted Robert. His number was in his phone, of course, that was the first thing that Aaron could do on receiving the number. But, he just couldn’t bring himself to send that first text. 

What was he supposed to say? How could he even start?

He was embarrassed to even think about the number of times he had started a draft before deleting it in frustration at not being able to find the right words.

Locking his car and making his way towards the entrance of the building, he noticed a group of people squeezing through the door, laden with bags of food and bottles of booze. Looks like someone’s having a party he though jealously, missing the times that he used to go out and get drunk with his mates.

Pressing the button and waiting for the lift, he thought about inviting Adam around, but then remembered that he was probably busy with Victoria. Again. 

Adam definitely didn’t have the same issues with texting as he did and had arranged to meet up with Victoria the day after meeting her. 

As the lift announced that he had arrived at his floor, he was greeted by the sounds of laughter and chattering. Walking towards his door, Aaron noticed that the party noises were coming from Robert’s flat. And that his front door was open.

His thoughts of whether to congratulate Robert on repairing his flat and moving back in were interrupted by Victoria looking out of the door towards where Aaron was hovering.

“Aaron!” She exclaimed, “We knocked on your door to invite you, but you weren’t in?” She continued.

“Hey Vic. I was just visiting my mum and sister.” He smiled. He really did enjoy spending time with his mum and Liv. He just wished that he could visit them more often.

“We’re having a bit of a party to celebrate Rob finally being able to move out of my living room.” She rolled her eyes. “Hang on, I’ll just go fetch him, I’m sure he’ll be so happy to see you! Oh, and I’ll go get you a drink, come in!” 

Before Aaron could tell her that he didn’t want to intrude, he found himself stood in Robert’s hallway – which was an exact mirror image of his own – waiting for the man himself.

“Aaron! You came!” Robert greeted him with a half hug, eyes slightly glassy and cheeks flushed pink. Clearly he had started on the drink quite early on. “Here you go. Let me take your coat.” He continued, pushing a bottle of beer into Aaron’s hand while simultaneously attempting to remove Aaron’s jacket.

“I don’t want to be a bother–”

“Don’t be silly! I think I’ll need someone who isn’t a member of my own family here to keep me sane.” 

“Alright, then, if you’re sure. I’ll stay for a bit.”

“Great!” He grinned bringing a hand up to his head and ruffling his blond hair so that it stuck up in tufts on the top of his head. Aaron smiled secretly at how cool and collected Robert turned into a bit of a mess after a couple of drinks. Suddenly Robert grabbed at his arm, tugging him further into the living area. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to some of my family.”

Aaron hesitated. Meeting Robert’s family definitely wasn’t something that he was prepared for.

“Is that – umm – I mean, are you sure?” he stuttered nervously. Robert laughed, his grip on Aaron’s arm tightening so that Aaron could feel the heat through his hoodie. 

“Of course, I’m sure! We’re a little bit dysfunctional – not really what you’d call a ‘normal’ family.” He continued, making air quotations around the word ‘normal’. 

“Don’t worry, mate, I’m sure my family is far more messed up than yours!” Aaron joked, with an edge of seriousness. The Dingles must be far more dysfunctional than Robert’s own family.

 

Two hours and many more drinks later, Aaron had been thoroughly proven wrong. Robert’s family was definitely dysfunctional. There had been multiple small and not so small arguments between Robert and his brother Andy (Aaron had gathered that he was in fact an adoptive brother during one of said arguments), unsuccessful attempts by Vic to calm them both down and an even more unsuccessful attempt by Doug to stop Andy’s wife Katie from throwing her drink over Robert.

“Who even is Doug?” Aaron had asked Vic earlier, thoroughly confused as to who this man was – who definitely wasn’t their father – who was lecturing them all.

“He’s Diane’s new…” Vic hesitated, trying to find the word, “boyfriend, I guess? That’s the thing with us Sugdens, we have to cling to any family we have because there aren’t many of us left.” She smiled sadly up at Aaron. He couldn’t help but feel a sharp pang of sadness for the siblings, and suddenly felt even luckier for having such a massive family, no matter how intrusive they could be.

 

By the time that Aaron was alone with Robert again, it was hours later, and many more drinks had been consumed. Aaron was all too aware of the early start he would need to make in the morning for some early morning scrap pick up. He was definitely regretting volunteering to do this one to help Adam out.

Just as he was placing his now empty beer can with the many others in the kitchen, Robert walked in with a couple more. He was definitely looking more tired than he had at the beginning of the night, his clothes more rumpled also.

“Good party?” Aaron asked, leaning against the counter as Robert emptied a couple of cans into the sink. He looked over his shoulder at Aaron and smiled.

“Yeah, I guess it could have gone worse.” He sighed, placing the now empty cans with the rest. “Sorry about all the drama. I guess I should have probable warned you about the possible arguments and, uh, shouting.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve definitely been at worse parties.”

“Thanks for staying, anyway. I know that this probably wasn’t what you expected to be doing tonight.” He stepped closer to Aaron, leaning his hip against the counter. “And you definitely made it more enjoyable.”

Aaron flushed and turned to mirror Robert’s position. He swallowed loudly, noticing how close they now were. He looked up at Robert and noticed that his gaze was fixed on Aaron’s lips.

“I’m glad.” He said quietly.

Robert’s gaze flickered between his lips and his eyes, before deciding to move his head closer, intent on closing the inches between their lips. Aaron’s breathe stuttered and his heart leapt into his throat. He felt his heart pounding wildly in his chest as Robert’s lips were mere millimetres away when the door burst open and Aaron leapt as far back as the counter would allow. 

Turning towards the door, Aaron saw Katie stood with her coat over her arm and a wine glass in hand.

“Not interrupting anything am I?” She asked, snidely, pushing her way between the two of them to deposit her glass in the sink. Robert cleared his throat.

“No, nothing.” He muttered, looking at the wall and avoiding all possibilities of eye contact with Aaron. Katie smirked.

“Right. Good.” She narrowed her eyes at the obvious awkwardness that was now between Aaron and Robert, before rolling her eyes and tossing back her hair. “Well, we think it’s time that we left. Diane’s called for a taxi, so it should be here in about 5 minutes. Thanks for such a wonderful party Robert.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Try not to burn it down this time.”

Robert rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he watched Katie flounce out of the kitchen.

“She’s such a drama queen.” He muttered, before turning to Aaron and opening his mouth, as though to say something else. Aaron never gave him the chance.

“It’s getting late, I should be getting back… I’ve got work in the morning so…” He spoke quickly, wanting to be out of the awkwardness as soon as he could. Robert blinked rapidly before nodding.

“Yeah, yeah sure.” 

With one final nod, Aaron left the kitchen and dashed out of the front door, not even stopping to do more than wave at Victoria in his haste. 

 

 

 

5.

October had arrived suddenly, and so had the northern chill with its freezing winds. It had been frosty overnight and Aaron was desperately trying to get his car to start. It wheezed and spluttered but made no sign of starting any time soon. 

The irony of being a mechanic with a car that wouldn’t start wasn’t lost on him.

As he got out of the car, he slammed the door shut and locked it. Not that he would care if anyone broke in, it was a piece of crap. Any thief would be welcome to it.

Mentally planning out the bus route that he would need to get into work, he gave the tyre one parting kick before beginning his 10-minute walk to the bus stop. Pulling up his hood, he angrily began the trek. 

Today was not going to be a good day.

Just as he was leaving the car park, a loud beep made him jump yet he didn’t turn around. A second beep caused him to look over his shoulder to see a flash car stopped just behind him. Robert’s flash car.

Aaron’s heart pounded. He had spent a month avoiding Robert after their almost-kiss and it was just his luck to have to talk to him on one of the worst days.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped to Robert’s car window.

“Hey.” Robert said after winding down his window. Aaron cleared his throat and nodded.

“Hey.” 

Robert licked his lips and moved his hands along his steering wheel. He tapped his fingers there a couple of times before looking back up at Aaron.

“So, I saw you attacking your car. I’m guessing it’s finally decided to give up the ghost?” He smiled sympathetically.

“Uh yeah, it wouldn’t start so I’m just going to catch the bus.” He replied, hoping that Robert would just accept that and leave him be. This whole conversation was just painful.

“Get in.”

“Sorry what?” Aaron started. Was Robert actually offering him a lift to work?

“Get in. I’ll take you.”

Aaron tried to protest, but Robert interrupted him again.

“Come on, how long will it take you if you go on the bus? 45 minutes? An hour?” He raised his eyebrows. “You’ll probably have to change, won’t you? Which will just cost you a lot more, when I’m offering you a lift for nothing…” 

He was tempted, and reluctantly nodded. Robert was completely right.

“I’m probably needing to go in the complete opposite direction and then you’ll be late…” Aaron tried on last time. It would be far easier if Robert just dropped the whole thing.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m sure I can talk my boss around.” He smirked before reaching over and opening the passenger side door.

Aaron sighed and nodded, making his way back onto the pavement and into Robert’s car. Maybe this would all be worth it just to be able to sit in Robert’s gorgeous car.

They sat in companionable silence, Aaron directing Robert when needed. He was right that the scrapyard was in the complete opposite direction from Robert’s office and felt awful about causing Robert any trouble.

“Robert?” 

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.” He said sincerely. “I know that this is out of your way, and you’ll probably get in trouble. So, thank you.”

Robert chuckled.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s really not any trouble. And anyway, I’m self-employed so the only boss I need to apologise to is myself.”

They sat in silence again for a while, the only sounds coming from the car. Robert shifted in his seat before speaking.

“About the night of the party–”

“Don’t worry about it. You’ve made it pretty clear that you don’t want anything like that from me. And that you’re straight. So just,” Aaron sighed, “drop it, yeah?”

“I’m not straight? I don’t think I’ve ever even told you that I was straight…”

“What?”

“You do remember that my marriage broke down because I slept with someone else, don’t you? And that the ‘someone else’ was a man?”

“But you were married to a woman…”

“It’s called being bisexual, Aaron. I like both.”

There was a tense silence in the car, with Robert driving in quiet anger. 

“I’m sorry… I’ve been insensitive, and I didn’t mean to be.”

Robert sighed deeply, before opening his mouth as though he had something to say. He did this a few times before he decided what to say.

“It’s okay. It’s just…” he hesitated and licked his lips, “It’s just taken me a long time to come to terms with it after burying it for so long. So after all of that I don’t like people just assuming things about me.”

It felt like there was a lot that went unsaid by Robert. But Aaron was sure that at some point he would feel comfortable enough to open up to him, fully.

“I’ll try not to make that mistake again.” Aaron vowed, and Robert smiled at the steering wheel. “Forgive me?”

“Of course.” They reached a roundabout. “Second exit here yeah? Towards the scrapyard?”

“Uh yeah,” Aaron started at the sudden change in conversation, desperately wanting to go back to heartfelt conversations and secret smiles. “Then it’s the first right into the scrapyard.”

Robert parked up to the office and cut off the engine. 

“There you go, right on time.” Robert turned to face Aaron, proudly. “And about half an hour quicker than the bus.”

“Yeah, alright. No need to show off just how great your car is…” Aaron rolled his eyes playfully, before once again turning serious. “Thanks, again.”

“Don’t worry about it. Although I best be getting off, I do need to do some work this morning.”

Aaron pulled the handle and pushed the door open, hoping that he would get to ride in that car again. It really was beautiful. Robert opened the window as the door shut, and Aaron leaned in. 

“I’ll see you around, yeah?” Robert started the engine again and grinned.

“See you around.”

With that he sped off onto the main road leaving a small cloud of dust from the gravel. Aaron stood there for a while, watching as the cloud dissipated before turning into the office wondering how he was going to get thoughts of Robert out of his head.

 

It was only later when Adam arrived that Aaron realised that he and Robert hadn’t finished their conversation about what they were going to do about that night at Robert’s flat. 

If he hammered the car he was dismantling a little too hard, then no one else had to know.

 

 

 

+1.

It had been a couple of days since Aaron’s car had broken down and he’d spent a car journey alone with Robert. They hadn’t really seen each other since, other than across carparks, only enough for a brief nod and a hello.

It was a Friday night. A night that normally Aaron would be happily spending at a pub with Adam, but he was out with Victoria.

It’s not that he wasn’t happy for Adam, and the fact that he’d found someone that made him happy. It’s just that Aaron felt jealous. Not of Victoria and not because he wanted Adam – God he hadn’t felt like that about his best mate in years – but because he suddenly felt lonely.

He also knew that if Adam and Victoria kept seeing each other, then he would be forced to keep spending time with Robert. And he didn’t know how long he would be able to cope with their weird see-saw of feelings. 

He was sat watching a football match that he couldn’t concentrate on, the players darting around quickly, when a knock came at the door.

Aaron looked down at his scruffy clothes, before shrugging. He didn’t care whether some random neighbour saw him like this. He opened the door, surprised to see Robert standing on the other side dressed in a smart suit.

“Hi!” Robert said loudly, looking as surprised as Aaron was sure he did.

“Hello?” Aaron replied slowly. “I have no idea why you look so confused, you’re the one who knocked on my door…” 

“Right yeah, umm…” Robert looked down at the ground and Aaron noticed that his hair was a mess. Not artfully ruffled as usual, but an actual mess. As though Robert had been pulling at it for quite some time.

“So,” he continued, “I’ve been stood here quite a while trying to work up the courage to knock on your door. I know that we haven’t necessarily had the, uh, easiest of starts? And I know that we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other in the future because of Vic and Adam so I thought it best to tell you everything now rather than have it hanging over us for months.”

Robert finished his piece quickly, looking into Aaron’s eyes inquisitively. To be honest, Aaron had no idea what all this was about, but quickly realised that it wasn’t the kind of conversation to be had in the hallway.

“Do you want to come inside and tell me over a brew?”

“Yes please.” Robert smiled, pushing his way into the flat.  
Aaron led the way into the kitchen and began filling the kettle.

“So, what’s all this about, then?” He asked, feigning nonchalance as he put the teabags back in the cupboard. Robert started from where he was fiddling with the mugs, almost dropping one of them.

“I fancy you.” He blurted. Aaron barked a laugh.

“Nice one. So? The real reason?”

“I’m being serious. I fancy you. I really like you, and I’d love to get to know you better because I think we could be good together.”

Robert moved closer to Aaron as he spoke, the moment almost a mirror of the moment they shared at Robert’s housewarming party. 

“I didn’t think you were that interested.”

“Of course, I was interested! Do you really think I’d find ways to spend time with any old neighbour?”

Aaron thought about this. It was true that he and Robert had spent quite a lot of time together considering they only shared a corridor. He didn’t know any of his other neighbours half as well as Robert and he’d lived near them for far longer.

As Aaron continued to be in his own world, thinking over the possibility that Robert just might be telling the truth, he felt a hand reach out and touch his.

“I’m serious,” Robert said softly, “I’d really love to get to know you better.”

“Go on then.” Aaron suddenly said, daringly. This was it. He was going to be brave, no more ‘what ifs’ down the line. He was going to grab this opportunity to be happy and have some fun along the way.

“Wait, really?” 

“Again, I don’t know why you’re acting so surprised, you asked me!”

Robert leapt forward, pressing his lips to Aaron’s and pushing him into the kitchen counter. As the kiss deepened Robert’s hands found Aaron’s face and he started toying with the short hair at the back of his neck. Aaron could do nothing but grasp at Robert’s waist, losing himself in the moment. 

The kettle clicked, and Robert pulled away.

“So, I’ll call you later then? To arrange us going out?” Robert asked hopefully with a shaky smile.

“No need.” Robert’s face fell and Aaron instantly regretted his decision to be somewhat flirty. “No! No, I mean, you’re not doing anything right now, are you?”

Robert’s frown dissolved into a flirty smile.

“No, nothing on this evening.”

“How about we go out now, then? No point wasting any more time is there?”

Robert pulled Aaron back in with a smirk.

“I guess not.”


End file.
